¨Brel penned this song after leaving his mistress Suzanne “Zizou” Gabriello. He wrote it in the “Au Rêve” bar, on the northern slopes of the Parisian district of Montmartre from which he could see Zizou’s apartment on the other side of the little square.Zizou was pregnant with Brel’s child at the time, but the composer refused to acknowledge he was the father and Brel later declared, “this is not a love song, but a song about the cowardice of men¨